• Question: Have you found out about any new cells in a male or female bodys?

    Asked by MAGIC AFRO to Zena on 11 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Zena Hadjivasiliou

      Zena Hadjivasiliou answered on 11 Mar 2015:


      Hello! I don’t really look for new kinds of cells in my research. I am more interested in understanding how male and female cells are similar and how they are different. The cells in our bodies that are the most different between males and females are our reproductive cells: the sperm cell in a male and the egg in a female. The sperm is tiny and moves very quickly whereas the egg is huge and does not move a lot. In my work I am asking why do they have to be so different? We think that the answer has to do with the way in which the egg and the sperm meet each other (which is the most important step in sexual reproduction!). For example, being large makes the egg easier to find and being small makes the sperm swim more easily and more quickly.

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